Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 133, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 June 1913 — KILLED BABY IN HER SLEEP [ARTICLE]

KILLED BABY IN HER SLEEP

Scientists Puzzled* Over a Strange Tragedy Recently Reported From Trieste. A tragedy which occurred at Trieste recently is attracting wide attention on the part of medical scientists and the general public. The case is one in which a mother during sleep murdered her infant child with a razor. The woman, who has been almost demented since the terrible occurrence, is at present being held at the disposal of the judicial authorities until the medical experts shall have been able to give an opinion on the affair. The woman is the wife of a Corfiote named Belelli, and when, after six years of married life, a child was born to the couple, in September last, their dearest wish was realized. Father and mother alike appear to have worshipped the little one. On the night of the tragedy, the woman, speaking in her sleep, said to her husband, "The child is iIL" The man, although aware that his wife was not awake, got out of bed and looked at the baby. It was lying quietly, and no fear was aroused in his mind, but he called his sister-in-law and told her what had happened. As soon as she took the child in her arms she saw that it was dead. The mother was then aroused, and as she rose in bed her husband saw that she had a razor in her hand. She had reached out during a dream and taken the razor from a chest near the bed, and with It had cut the child’s throat